Thu.Aug 05, 2021

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Sticking With The Plan

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

Managing a business is about having a plan, sticking with it, and not panicking or looking for hail mary passes. There are no silver bullets or shortcuts to success in life. You need to have a five to ten-year plan and you need to stick with it and execute against it day after day, week after week, year after year. I was reminded of this watching my NY Knicks navigate the off-season after making the playoffs for the first time in eight years.

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John Deere buys autonomous tractor startup Bear Flag Robotics

TechCrunch

In the world of robotic startups, acquisition is often as good an outcome as any. And when it comes to robotic tractor startups, you could do worse than being acquired by John Deere. The agricultural technology giant announced today that it’s set to acquire Bear Flag Robotics for $250 million. The Bay Area-based firm, which specializes in autonomous farming heavy machinery, was founded in 2017.

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The Data Paradox: Why Data Can Be Both an Advantage and a Burden

StartupNation

In 2016, Dell Technologies commissioned our first Digital Transformation Index (DT Index) study to assess the digital maturity of businesses around the globe. We have since commissioned the study biennially to track businesses’ digital maturity. Our third installment of the DT Index , launched in 2020 (the year of the pandemic), revealed that “data overload/unable to extract insights from data” was the third highest ranking barrier to transformation, up from 11th place in 2016.

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As edtech evolves, LatAm reskilling platforms raise millions to bring outcomes into the mix

TechCrunch

As Latin America attracts record-breaking venture capital totals, education technology startups in the region are given new opportunities to grow. In the past week, Coderhouse, a live cohort-based learning platform, and Crehana, an on-demand skills development service for the enterprise, both announced financing rounds. The back-to-back raises are a reminder that edtech’s relevance in LatAm isn’t just growing in classrooms, but also within organizations across LatAm.

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The Big Payoff of Application Analytics

Outdated or absent analytics won’t cut it in today’s data-driven applications – not for your end users, your development team, or your business. That’s what drove the five companies in this e-book to change their approach to analytics. Download this e-book to learn about the unique problems each company faced and how they achieved huge returns beyond expectation by embedding analytics into applications.

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The Rise and Fall of The World’s Most Valuable Social Media Company

Entrepreneur's Handbook

Pony Ma suffered a $14 billion loss after his company was called “spiritual opium” by a state-owned paper. Continue reading on Entrepreneur's Handbook ».

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The Unconventional Way To Make Money Through Twitter

Entrepreneur's Handbook

Try this way most people haven’t heard of. Continue reading on Entrepreneur's Handbook ».

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Dataiku gets $400M at a $4.6B valuation, led by Tiger Global

TechCrunch

Data science platform Dataiku announced today it has raised a $400 million Series E, bringing its valuation to $4.6 billion. The round was led by Tiger Global, with participation from returning investors like ICONIQ Growth, CapitalG, FirstMark Capital, Battery Ventures, Snowflake Ventures and Dawn Capital. New investors included Insight Partners, Eurazeo, Lightrock and Olivier Pomel, the chief executive of Datadog.

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How a $2 Billion Company Without an HR Department Is Thriving

Entrepreneur's Handbook

Is Octopus Energy’s model the future? Continue reading on Entrepreneur's Handbook ».

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Avoid these common financial mistakes so your startup doesn’t die on the vine

TechCrunch

Swapnil Shinde. Contributor. Share on Twitter. Swapnil Shinde is the co-founder and CEO of Zeni , the first AI-powered finance concierge for startups. The startup world can be a rollercoaster. While investment continues to pour in — with both founders and investors looking for the next unicorn — the reality is that 90% of startups fail , with over half of those going under in the first three years.

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PE Mastery: CAPTARGET's Playbook for Quality Lead Flow

CAPTARGET presents a masterclass in M&A deal sourcing. Learn to cast a wide net, embracing seller self-identification. Consistency is the linchpin: keep the origination process steady for a reliable flow of opportunities. Diversify your tactics, employing various tools and vendors. Tech matters! Understand DNS settings, domain authority, and brand presence for optimal outreach.

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Why your investors may not respond when you need money

Berkonomics

When do most companies communicate? Early stage company investors as a group have a common gripe – almost universal. Information flows from the company irregularly, in fact most often when the company is urgently in need of more money. How these investors try to solve the problem. Investment documents usually call for quarterly reporting by the company to the investors.

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Bluecore lands $125M Series E on $1B valuation as e-commerce personalization grows

TechCrunch

During the pandemic, especially when we were in lockdown, just about every retailer had to build its online presence and do it quickly. As people move to shop online in larger numbers, being able to personalize that experience has become more crucial. That made the pandemic a pivotal moment for Bluecore , an e-commerce personalization platform, and today the company announced a $125 million Series E on a $1 billion valuation.

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Ramon’s Top 10 – Breakfast With Champions – Are You Too Cheap – Aug 5 2021

Smart Hustle Magazine

Here are the top 10 tips you need to know to start and grow your business or better your life. Join Ramon Ray live, every Thursday on Glenn Lundy’s Breakfast with Champions on Clubhouse. Ramon’s “Top 10” segment is Thursday, at 7:30am (EST). Start your day off right and listen to the entire show from 5am to 11am EST on Clubhouse.

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Founders must learn how to build and maintain circles of trust with investors

TechCrunch

Matt Cohen. Contributor. Share on Twitter. Founder and managing partner at Ripple Ventures , Matt Cohen is a business operator turned early-stage investor. Tony Conrad. Contributor. Share on Twitter. Having founded about.me and Sphere (both acquired by AOL), Tony brings founder and startup leadership expertise to his partner role at True. Many VCs tout their mentorship and hands-on approach to founders, especially those who run early-stage startups.

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Monetizing Analytics Features

Think your customers will pay more for data visualizations in your application? Five years ago, they may have. But today, dashboards and visualizations have become table stakes. Turning analytics into a source of revenue means integrating advanced features in unique, hard-to-steal ways. Download this white paper to discover which features will differentiate your application and maximize the ROI of your analytics.

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Right Product, Wrong Time

The Seraf Compass

When most people think of bad timing in business, they imagine a company that scrambled to jump on an opportunity but showed up with too little, too late. It happens all too often. People can be slow to act on a dawning opportunity and others will beat them to the punch. A far more heartbreaking example of bad timing occurs when a company shows up way too early for an opportunity and dies waiting for the market to come together.

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Octane raises $52M at a $900M+ valuation to help people finance large recreational purchases

TechCrunch

Most of the time when people get loans, it’s for big life purchases such as a house or a car. But not every big purchase is a necessity. Some are more for fun, and the financing options for those types of buys — such as motorcycles and ATVs — are more limited. Today, Octane Lending , a company that embarked seven years ago on remedying that, announced it has raised $52 million in a Series D round of funding that values the company at over $900 million.

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WJR Business Beat with Jeff Sloan: State of Business Travel Today (Episode 270)

StartupNation

On today’s Business Beat, Jeff discusses the current state of business travel with David Fishman, president of Cadillac Travel Group. Tune in to the Business Beat, below, to learn more about what you need to know about business travel right now: Tune in to News/Talk 760 AM WJR weekday mornings at 7:11 a.m. for the WJR Business Beat. Listeners outside of the Detroit area can listen live HERE.

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Do bronze medals ever make sense for unicorns?

TechCrunch

Last week, Deliveroo made news when it announced it was preparing to leave the Spanish market. The recently listed Deliveroo couched its explanation in market terms, noting its market position in Spanish on-demand delivery wasn’t sufficient to warrant continued investment. Left unmentioned: A Spanish legal change requiring companies that previously depended on freelance couriers to hire their delivery staff.

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How to Stay Competitive in the Evolving State of Martech

Marketing technology is essential for B2B marketers to stay competitive in a rapidly changing digital landscape — and with 53% of marketers experiencing legacy technology issues and limitations, they’re researching innovations to expand and refine their technology stacks. To help practitioners keep up with the rapidly evolving martech landscape, this special report will discuss: How practitioners are integrating technologies and systems to encourage information-sharing between departments and pr

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How to Create a $1 Million DTC Company With No Experience in E-Commerce

Entrepreneur's Handbook

Some easy-to-avoid mistakes and shortcuts you can take Continue reading on Entrepreneur's Handbook ».

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Micromobility startup Voi raises $45 million to end sidewalk riding, improve safety

TechCrunch

Micromobility startup Voi has raised $45 million, funds it says will be used to research and develop technology that will improve safety, keep users from riding on sidewalks and ensure scooters are properly parked. The funding comes a month after Voi launched a pilot in Northhampton, UK with Irish startup Luna to test how computer vision technology might be used to solve parking and sidewalk riding issues.

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[DouxMatok in Food Dive] DouxMatok hires CEO with experience in partnerships, marketing and brand building

OurCrowd

As DouxMatok’s Incredo Sugar moves beyond the R&D phase and on its way into products, the company is bringing in a leader with experience in brand building, marketing and company growth. And even though Melamud has no direct experience with food or ingredients, he knows important aspects of several adjacent businesses. Read more here. The post [DouxMatok in Food Dive] DouxMatok hires CEO with experience in partnerships, marketing and brand building appeared first on OurCrowd Blog.

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Dutch startup hub Utrecht emerges from Amsterdam’s shadow

TechCrunch

While Amsterdam garners the lion’s share of attention in the Netherlands tech ecosystem, the not-so-far-away region around Utrecht has its fair share of tech startups and investors, as is evidenced by our latest survey of locals, below. Area ecosystem wranglers such as StartupUtrecht, UtrechtInc, Holland Startup, Utrecht Community and others bring startups, scaleups, corporates, angels, VCs, local government, banks and universities together to build the local startup ecosystem.

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How To Package & Price Embedded Analytics

Just by embedding analytics, app owners can charge 24% more for their product. How much value could you add? This framework from Software Pricing Partners explains how application enhancements can extend your product offerings. You’ll learn: How to take a disciplined approach to pricing The three elements of the Packaging Decision Framework Ways to structure your new embedded analytics offering Download the White Paper to learn about How To Package & Price Embedded Analytics.

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The primary lever for CEO Success: The Leadership Team

Mark MacLeod

In Jim Collins’ classic management text “Good to Great”, the author looks at the greatest companies of his era to identify patterns in their success. The first step he identified in great companies was team assembly, or as he put […].

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Hydroponic farming startup Just Vertical cultivates growth at home 

TechCrunch

The indoor growing industry is starting to scale. Farms that utilize hydroponics (grow produce without soil, usually in large warehouses) and traditional greenhouses have started to become integral parts of our food supply chain, mainly for leafy greens like lettuce, spinach and arugula. . Vertical hydroponic farming is often seen as a sustainable alternative to traditional growing.

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Customers Once Again Rank SecureDocs as a Top VDR

Secure Docs

Customers Once Again Rank SecureDocs as a Top VDR. At SecureDocs, our clients always come first, and we’re committed to providing a solution that meets their needs above all else. With a virtual data room solution that is simple, secure, affordable, and backed with unparalleled support, our customers can focus solely on the deal-making process.

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A blueprint for building a great startup founding team

TechCrunch

Sudheesh Nair. Contributor. Share on Twitter. Sudheesh Nair is CEO of ThoughtSpot , a business intelligence company that has built an intuitive Google-like interface for data analytics. Before ThoughtSpot, Sudheesh was president at Nutanix. In a company’s early days, the difference between C-level executives and the rest of the organization is simple — employees can walk away from a failure, but the leaders cannot.

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ABM Evolution: How Top Marketers Are Using Account-Based Strategies

In times of economic uncertainty, account-based strategies are essential. According to several business analysts and practitioners, ABM is a necessity for creating more predictable revenue. Research shows that nearly three-quarters of marketers (74%) already have the resources needed to build successful ABM programs.